The Pearl That Broke Its Shell: An Emotional Novel of Two Women's Stories Intertwined by Time and Tradition in Afghanistan

I really enjoyed this story about Afghan women. It is a story of courage, strength, resilience, love and hope for 2 Afghani women separated by generations, yet eerily similar. Kabul 2007: The Taliban rules the streets and Rahima is one of 5 girls in a family (no brothers) to a drug addicted father and little hope of ever seeing change. So Rahima adopts the ancient custom of bacha posh, dressing and living like a boy until marriageable age. This allows Rahima the freedom to go to school and the market alone. A century earlier, her great great grandmother, Shekiba, who was orphaned by an epidemic built a life for herself in the same way. Their stories crisscross in time and weave a tale of 2 women separated by time but who share the same courage and dreams. I found both stories to be engaging. I kept reading wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story of Shekiba is told to Rahima by her aunt. This was a great way to weave the stories together. There was enough "overlapping" that you could easily pick up whichever story you were on without feeling like you had to reread an entire chapter to catch up. However, there were so many people in each story that it was difficult to remember who everybody was or what their role was. Still a great read about women living in a culture so different than mine.

I really loved the story. It was a creative idea and an interesting telling. I felt like the author did a good job of describing life for women in Afghanistan (at least I think she did). But the writing was lacking something. I felt like the characters and dialogue could have and should have been richer.

A fantastic read which opens your eyes as to how the two main characters lead a difficult life and yet manage to find freedom and feel the fresh breath of air to lead a peaceful life!

The twin stories of Rahima and Shekiba are horrifying and violent. The author has masterfully spun a tale that I don't want to believe to be true. The plight of Afghan women as written here has not changed in hundreds of years. And yet the spirit shown by both women as they struggle with the adversity of their culture is inspiring.

I was a tad concerned about being able to read this book in a timely fashion for my book club. At 450 pages in length its a little longer than other recent selections.

In retrospect, I had nothing to be concerned about as it's a quick albeit disturbing read. Nadia Hashimi does an excellent job of weaving the stories of Shekiba and Rahima who are relatives born approximately 100 years apart in Afghanistan. It's a well-written and compelling story.

Nonetheless, I had a strong reaction to the misogyny that in many ways had not changed much between the early 1900's and the early 2000's, especially in the rural villages. Young girls are married off to much older men and held to strict standards for being a good wife. That entails being docile, a good cook and housekeeper, and most importantly a woman who bears son.

I was aghast at the amount of abuse that the young girls and women suffered. They were routinely being slapped and beaten by their husbands and other women (mothers, mothers-in-law, fellow wives) for not meeting those standards. I was angry at the men who married these girls and abused them but reading about elder women beating the younger women was appalling. The human pecking order is a powerful drug.